A Whole Year @ PaganBloggers(!): Admin-not-admin notes

Today, one year into Installation Wizard, I don’t know what event I’m celebrating more. This year, (my somewhat late celebration of) the Spring Equinox in the Northern hemisphere corresponds with the #MarchForOurLives protest in Washington, DC, where students, their friends and supporters, and my peers walk together against the exclusive control of gun legislation in the states by pro-gun lobbies. Just how much connectivity and community I can feel in these events, in the ways I have contributed, enthralls me. It reminds me of the feelings I desire from Witch and Pagan circles as well as the ways my practice and focuses have changed over this year.

Backup and Restore

I’ve changed a wee bit since last March. This summer is going to be my last semester before I graduate with my Bachelor’s degree, where a wide plethora of internships and volunteer opportunities will open before me before I try to apply to graduate school. Gods speed. My BA is still called “Creative Sexual Communication,” but now I’m minoring in Violence Prevention & Intervention as well as Game Studies. I almost know what I’m talking about.

I’m also more concerned about my health, minus the spiritualism that still kind of haunts my earlier pieces (and I’m not talking about posts here . . . I’m not linking them). At the same time I was pre-diagnosed with a hormone disorder, I started being able to siphon some Internet out of the air. That means more tiredness and more Tumblr. I’m still pretty cheery and absolutely humble, however.

As I teased in the intro, the ways I’ve been practicing have also changed, the first major way through sharing my knowledge. Since March 2017, my Pagan fiction and poetry, from slice of life to worship and sci fi, have appeared in Exposure: Queer Masculine Sexuality and Haute Dish. (I’m actually going to a party today where I read my piece in the latter!) A piece on Freyja on Mars is coming out through the Queer Foundation sometime soon, I hear.

Being able to share my critical reasoning and observations has really encouraged me as well as inspiring a certain level of secularity in my worship. That’s led me to more environmentalism, ecofeminism, communo-anarchism, and even just shirking alcohol, which are honestly all better for me in the long run. I still love my goxexxes, but like, I believe in community magic a little more now.

This comes at a strained time in the current state of my local Pagan and Witch communities, or at least a strain where I feel like I’m trying to connect. We haven’t been out at real life events—both the May and September events of 2017 didn’t happen, to the disappointment of my family. I’ve been missing perennial events because no one reminds me. Online, I’m seeing a lot more pastel aesthetic Witch blogs, the same advice and lists going around, no innovation in presentation. I can’t connect to the night the same way I used to, which might be related to my health concerns but doesn’t answer the lack of energy. I don’t feel the swell of masses emanating from the usual places. Something has created dispassion but there’s no way for Hel I’m letting it manifest in 2018.

Processing Speed: What Installation Wizard may just cover in the next year

So what am I going to do about it? I’m going to write. This list of what I want to cover at least in the next twelve months is how I’m rebelling against . . . mundanity.

Some video games and topics I want to cover are:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, originally released in 2011 and still being rereleased, with its heavy modding community as well as many techno and pop spells involving it: Is it still relevant or useful to pop Pagans?

I’m slowly easing into issues in tech and tech rhetoric (as in, I don’t fully understand some of the things I’m reading or even saying), although many avenues of thought and writing spring to my mind, like:

“Paging the Pagan: Social media systems & community connectivity”

the capacities of the Internet for social change

pastel Witch/Pagan aesthetic blog visiorhetoric

“’Witchy’ Weapons: Why do we still want athames?”

“Dollar-Store Moss & Bringing Outside Inside”

Of course, all of these ideas would touch on social issues, but there are some specific social issues I still want to write about, such as:

the “magical girl” trope

issues between humanism and transhumanism in greater states cultures as well as Paganism and Witchcraft

disability/tech/magic

This year, I also feel like doing some more reviews, of zines, blogs, and novels, and constructing some zines, blogs, and books with you all. That sounds exciting! Interviews and videos are also media I’m interested in exploring. I’ve been told that my voice carries. My stutter, too.

Anyway, that’s the place I’m starting from this Spring. From online to in real time, I’m standing for my communities and as an ally, among gods and along friends. I’m stroking my beard, preparing to put on my niter board cap, and getting ready for a slamming new year.

As I get my research done and shit together, I have to mention that I probably won’t post in April—too many final papers due, forms to fill out, and journal deadlines to barely meet. While my completely quality content won’t be here for a bit, I encourage you to keep up with Bryan Hewitt, Nicholas Haney, Irisanya Moon, Diana Rajchel—every contributor, really!

But hey, this act only gets better with more audience participation. What are some Witch-y and Pagan-ish games, tech, and culture you would like to see me cover? How has your practice, your practicing community, even you changed since last March? Any love for any of my posts from this last year?

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About the Author

Liz Tetu is a gag comic artist and general creative writer. He is a Pagan who does magic, too, and has a BA in Creative Sexual Communication, minors in Game Studies and Violence Prevention and Intervention. When he finds time to put down the pen, he picks up bad habits, like hair gel.